Mama monkey’s sister is getting married in June. The bachelorette party was today. Let me qualify that: it was ALL day. From 9am until any time now… it’s currently 3am and Mama’s not back just yet.

Previous to today, the most time Zeke has spent away from his mother is about 3 hours or less. Enough time for a movie. In a recent “playcare” visit (childcare at the gym where she goes to get her spin on sometimes!) he didn’t even make it the hour and a half. So it was with great stress and worry that she went from that to not seeing him for an entire day. Heck, we weren’t even sure he’d take milk from the bottle for me. To her credit, she didn’t make a big fuss out of it. And to my credit, I only showed a little fear.

The main challenge in my opinion wasn’t the baby. I had a strong feeling he’d take the bottle and that I’d be able to figure a day out. The challenge was caring for him while also entertaining the almost-four-year-old!

I’m happy to report that it was successful! I did what daddies are supposed to do, and took darned good care of those kids. But I have to secretly admit (shhhh, don’t tell anyone!) that every single minute that passes now I’m praying for that door to open so that if the baby wakes up she can handle it. I don’t have milk at the ready. Or if the older one needs some comfort (as he sometimes does at 3am) I can go without worrying the younger will wake up. Walk in walk in walk in walk in….. Of course, I told her to take her time. I’m a good husband, too, right?

Museum of Nature. Baby in carrier, my back in agony but there are no tears! Huzzah! Baby eventually sleeps and I get a kind stranger to help unbuckle me so that I can lay him down in the stroller.

Visit from mom! OK, so she didn’t leave him ALLLLllll day. The hour she was here made a world of difference to us all!

Out to my parents so they can watch one or both while I walk the dogs. They watch the eldest because the baby is still sleeping (so I bring him with me on the walk)

Dinner with parents

THE HARD PART… BEDTIME! I just couldn’t figure out how to get the eldest to bed. To be frank, I didn’t try “just go to bed” because I could not handle a fight. I let him watch Ben 10 until his eyes were bleary and I FINALLY put the baby down at just before 9:30pm. Then into the bedroom with the eldest, who was talkative and fidgety from being overtired. No matter, he still fell asleep quickly.

Relief, right?? Nope. 15 minutes later, youngest is crying. Diaper is soaked so I work through the tears to change it. Then he’s hard to sleep again. Eventually fatigue just gets the better of him.

Relief, right?? Nope. 20 minutes after that, he’s awake again. This time after he falls asleep on my shoulder (my back. my back is WRECKED!) I let him continue his sleep on my chest and I continue in the La-Z-Boy. Managed to nod off for a few minutes before he wakes again. Luckily it only took 2 minutes of bouncing to settle him.

Relief, right?? Sort of. My body got super stiff from the way I was lying in the recliner. Eventually transferred him to bed (successfully!) and here I am. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Walk in walk in walk in walk in… please? I just want to end the day feeling like the king of daddies and husbands.

5 thoughts on “My Day with the Monkeys”

So yeah. Forgot to mention the time the baby was asleep and the dogs woke him up by barking at random who-knows-what in the street.

Also, epilogue: mom did not walk in before baby awoke protesting. Luckily 30 Rock and some walking around the main floor kept him from constant wailing. Eventually texted his mom to say “baby say hi!” when she was on our street on the way home. The text wasn’t meant as a “can you come home now please?” but I was still glad to hear she was only 1 minute away. Then baby was so excited to see mom that we didn’t fall asleep for a good long while. Just lay around in bed talking. Great end to a fun day.

Sorry for the late comment – I’m way behind on my blog reading, just getting caught up. Just wanted to say that these kind of days are absolutely worth capturing – the dog days, where you just buckle down and survive. It’s been a while since I had one of those, but I still look back on them with fondness.